Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Professional Development Strategy for Teachers in Guyana
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Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Professional Development Strategy for Teachers in Guyana A CASE STUDY The ICT Professional Development Strategy for Teachers in Guyana could provide a quick and cost- effective way to enhance and overhaul existing teacher programmes in environments with few resources, including human resources. ICT are currently integral to many educational changes throughout the world. They have dramatically changed the learning and teaching environment, and have opened up new opportunities and access to educational resources well beyond those traditionally available. The ICT Professional Development Strategy for Teachers in Guyana was developed in 2011. It is based on the assumption that, if teacher training programmes embrace ICT, there will be improvements in learner performance, and it acknowledges the central role that education officials, teacher trainers, educators and learners play in the implementation and support of ICT in education. Although the strategy was originally devised in response to challenges — relating to education, migration and the economy, for example — in Guyana, it can be adapted to meet the needs of other countries in the developing world facing similar challenges. At the very least it could provide some potentially relevant lessons from which other countries contemplating the introduction of ICT could learn. 2 The Guyana Context powerful agent of change in this process. Consequently, using ICT in teacher education and training is now at the forefront Guyana’s population is predominantly rural; only 28 per cent of efforts to tackle ineffective teaching and low-quality of its 780,000 inhabitants live in urban areas. Life expectancy learning in classrooms. This is a challenge in a country is good — over 62 years for males and 70 years for females. where only 27 per cent of the population are Internet users. Expenditure on education in 2007 was 6.1 per cent of GDP, which ranks the country 28th in the world1 but functional The Ministry of Education developed an ICT Operational Plan literacy has been a cause for concern. “Between 80 to 89 that recognises that integrating ICT into education means percent of the youth of the country are achieving at low to addressing issues of content, access and competency, as moderate levels of functional literacy. Indeed, it is estimated well as the actual integration of ICT into the processes of that the overall functional literacy rate in the country is in the teaching and learning, which requires both teachers and lower 50s.”2 Therefore, the government is actively addressing learners to be competent users of the available ICT. There was the quality of both primary and secondary education in a significant gap in the plan regarding teacher development Guyana. in ICT integration. Therefore, an ICT Professional Development Strategy for Teachers was developed in consultation with the Part of the problem lies in the low retention of qualified Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth of Learning teachers and the subsequent employment of untrained (COL), Microsoft and Neil Butcher & Associates in conjunction and unqualified teachers. In 2007, of 9,303 teachers only with the Guyana Ministry of Education, the National Centre for 4,523 (48.6%) were fully trained.3 The Ministry of Education Educational Resource Development (NCERD), the Cyril Potter has therefore given priority to increasing the number of College of Education (CPCE) and the University of Guyana (UG). qualified teachers by providing opportunities for both pre- The strategy includes several initiatives required to implement and in-service teachers to gain the relevant qualifications. it, and is essentially a comprehensive framework and learning When the Ministry learned about the potential benefits of ICT, pathway for managers, teacher educators, teachers, student especially when combined with concurrent development of teachers and administrators to become competent in using ICT teacher ICT competencies, it realised that they could be a to support high-quality teaching and learning. 3 The ICT Professional Development Strategy for Teachers The Guyana ICT Professional Development Strategy for activities and presentations, for management tasks and Teachers shares the broader vision of the Guyana Ministry for developing additional subject matter and pedagogical of Education’s ICT Operational Plan that: knowledge for their own professional development. Further, a significant number will be expected to be able to use more ICT and other assistive technologies for educational sophisticated methodologies and ICT to address changes in delivery will be supporting a quality and accessible the curriculum that will emphasise depth of understanding teaching and learning environment at all levels and application of school knowledge to real-world problems, of the education system in Guyana. Further, most and a new approach to pedagogy in which the teacher serves graduates of the Secondary level will have attained as a guide and manager of a learning environment where core competencies in ICT Literacy. learners are engaged in extended, collaborative project-based In the long term, it is hoped that this strategy will equip learning activities that can go beyond the classroom and may all Ministry of Education officials, teacher development involve local or global collaborations.4 management and staff, school principals and teachers with the skills to use ICT effectively to support high-quality The Guyana ICT Professional Development Strategy provides teaching and learning in Guyanese schools. After training a comprehensive framework and learning pathway for they will be expected to be able to integrate basic ICT key stakeholders to learn to use ICT effectively to support tools into the standard school curriculum, pedagogy and high-quality teaching and learning. It uses the UNESCO ICT 5 classroom structures. They should also know how, where Competency Framework for Teachers (CFT) as its guiding and when (as well as when not) to use ICT for classroom framework and seeks to develop core competencies as illustrated in Figure 1. Initial Teacher Training Continuing Professional Development Introductory Specific Short Courses Advanced Diploma in Stand-Alone Course on (Specialised introductory courses Education Use of ICT in Education aimed at practising teachers, (Two specialised courses on (Dedicated, generic CPD qualified and unqualified, offered Technology ICT and on teaching IT as a course aimed at qualified, alongside generic CPD modules: Literacy subject, plus ICT focuses in practising teachers who have • Use of SuccessMaker other subject-specific not been taught about ICT in • Teaching IT as a Subject courses) their Initial Training) • ICT Maintenance and Support) Stand-Alone Course Bachelor of Education on ICT integration in (Two specialised courses on Education Knowledge ICT and on teaching IT as a (Dedicated, generic CPD subject, plus ICT focuses in course aimed at qualified, Deepening other subject-specific practising teachers who courses) have not been taught about ICT in their Initial Training) Specific Short Courses Menu of specialised CPD courses aimed at qualified, practising teachers: • ICT Integration for School Principals (both stand-alone and Knowledge integrated into current course for principals) Deepening • The Role of an ICT Coordinator • ICT Maintenance and Support • Incorporation of new courses as demand arises Figure 1: ICT Professional Development Framework for Guyana 4 5 The Guyana ICT Professional Development Framework for • NCERD plans the following: Teachers currently incorporates the following professional • In the next five years, to create a dedicated module development options: on ICT integration for school principals that will be • ICT components in the revised CPCE programme (which is integrated into a generic 18-month course for school planned to be a two-year programme leading to a two-year principals. This module will need to be offered as a Associate Degree in Education): stand-alone course for principals who have already • Two compulsory courses. The first will introduce successfully completed the course without the ICT teachers to ICT — electronic and otherwise — and Integration module. This module will include a specific the second will involve studying in more detail ICT in focus on using ICT in school administration. education, equivalent to six semester credits (these • To repackage the four ICT Integration modules being courses focus on Technology Literacy, as defined in the designed for the new CPCE and UG Advanced Diploma UNESCO ICT CFT). in Education (ADE) and BEd programmes into two stand- • A dedicated focus on secondary subject options to alone courses for qualified teachers, and to design enable teachers to specialise in teaching IT as a subject. a stand-alone course for qualified teachers who are teaching IT as a subject but are not formally qualified to • Subject-specific ICT integration specialisations do so. (incorporated into subject-specific courses, not delivered as separate modules). • To develop two versions of a stand-alone short course on using SuccessMaker6 in schools — one for teachers • ICT components in the revised UG programme (a further who are already ICT literate and one for teachers who two years of study, leading to a BEd): are not. • Two more compulsory courses on ICT integration in • To develop a short course for ICT coordinators in schools. education, equivalent to six semester credits (anticipated to focus on Knowledge Deepening,